Some lonely god has been playing dirty. Some artifact has popped into existence beneath some obscure desert. I couldn't say in which direction that desert lies. I couldn't pinpoint the timeline of the excavation. But I've been turning this artifact over and over in my hands. Pressing its buttons. Harping on it. Tossing it into mysterious abysses, and abysses that are mysterious to a lesser extent. Tossing it into river mouths and mouths of lake monsters. Tossing it into wells literal and wells metaphorical. But my hands keep going out at night. For a taste stringent, and elusive, here, on my fingertips.

Looks like we have the park to ourselves, I said, and she looked up to smile at me. But there were still the fireflies lifting off blades of grass. An owl observing us from a large oak. And pools of stars filling the gaps between treetops. Any grave must be makeshift. A mound of mud that compresses and levels out over time. I fret, and I cover the dirt with white pebbles, mixing in flecks of pink fire glass. I fret, and on a branch above, I hang a ceramic bell, some fairy lights. On top of the pebbles, a cast-iron heart. On top of the heart, her name. Here is a place for one who once had life. Surely, here is somewhere. There had been shuffling steps along whichever path we walked. The sound, as if she were always wearing four little house slippers.

sun lights up

the hibiscus petals

lilac, plush

floralescent

You are cherries, I like you deep

red and I’m jungle-Lush

Lusting over the way you

look at me,

the sharp lines of your jaw,

some soft blonde strands have fallen

from your tied-up hair.

I have always never wanted to be & you

have never wanted me to be, something clean,

something more

Legible. all this wild peace

& i’m feelin’ lush;lust and sacrilegious ,not

precious but breakable rough.

and u r cherries, i like

you deep and sweet and

some and the kids tonight :):) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBnjAijOrG8

In July I watched

a bird fall

from the cherry tree

in my backyard

fireworks

mason jar cocktails

fried smelts

fried green tomatoes

dripping hot

summer I thought

even a bird

will fall

whether mine or her heart where-

ever it has gone

is touchable somehow

like a fog

that was just right here

settling

above

the ground

the strap of my sundress won’t

stay put on my shoulder

mugs don’t arrange themselves

neatly in the cabinet

over on some shore

there’s seafoam

seeping into the sand

that held it

just so

gone

forever a sweet melody

lingering

fuzzylove in my fingertips

we turned left at the dairy bar

where i got hot fudge cakes

as a kid

and we drove by the old garage

where my uncle used to work.

we turned right

and crossed the train tracks,

another right and we arrived

at our destination.

you are only six months in this world

and i'm not ready

for the day when there’s no pup

to steal the black velvet scrunchie

off of my nightstand.

i wished for nothing

and then i wished for everything

to go back

to how it had been just two weeks ago.

what is left and right?

what is a celebration

of life,

my little fluffernutter?

Love is a song sometimes,

&, dear,

isn’t it a beautiful day to sing

with the windows open? I could cry,

the way the breeze teases

you, your hair

ends up in your mouth, & you scowl

that scowl of yours. I swear

I’ve never built a monument

to anyone’s scowl, but my hands have

while I wasn’t looking.

& my heart keeps going on about

how every moment

has led us here, right where

we belong.

- for my hunny & his irresistible scowl. ...plus some more musical inspo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7V8Vk8CMe7g